CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background Of The Study

Instructional materials have been observed as a powerful strategy to bring about effective teaching and learning. The importance of quality and adequate instructional materials in teaching and learning can occur through their effective utilization during classroom teaching. Instructional materials here include all the tools that the teachers can use to make the learning more interesting and memorable.

According to Farombi, (1998), instructional materials include books, audio-visual, software and hardware of educational technology. He further opines that the availability, adequacy and relevance of instructional materials in classrooms can influence quality teaching, which can have positive effect on students’ learning and academic performance. The insight from Farombi on linking instructional resources to students’ academic performance serve critical in the provision of quality education.

Efficiency and high productivity in teaching and learning transaction. In my views, start from the access to quality and adequate instructional materials, and these should be prepared well before the class interaction.

According to Oni (1992), instructional resources are teachers’ strategic factor in organizing and providing education. This is so because they help to elaborate a concept that the teacher could not, without an instructional material. This allows students to learn more comfortably therefore influencing positively their academic performance.

Writing on the role of instructional materials in teaching and learning, Balogun (1982) commented that science education programmes cannot be taught effectively without the existence of equipment for teaching. This is because instructional materials help those who learn to develop problem-solving skills and scientific attitudes. Elaborating further on the same point, Ajayi and Ogunyemi (1990) emphasize that when instructional materials are provided to meet relative needs of teaching process, students will have access to the reference materials mentioned by the teacher, and also each student will be able to learn at his or her own pace. The overall result is that students will perform much better.

Before the coming of missionaries in Buea municipality, traditional societies in Buea municipality had their own means of providing education to the new generation, which was growing up. There was no for education however the young ones were taught through storytelling, and also through tribal traditions. Under this system of education, the youth grew to become brave and skilled men and women; men became hunters, soldiers and craft workers, while women became good mothers and food gatherers and craft workers.

The beginning of formal education is traced to 1876 when the missionaries came to establish their mission stations. The first mission station was the Free Church of Scotland at Cape Maclear, and this group opened the Livingstonia Mission (Pachai, 1973). In the mid-1920s, government appeared on the education scene with more assistance and policy formulation. The department of education established in 1926 worked hand-in-hand with the missions, and more schools were introduced.

According to Adeogun, schools, whose teachers use more instructional resources perform better than schools, whose teachers do not use instructional materials. This corroborated the study by Babayomi (1999) that private schools performed better than public schools because students and teachers are provided with sufficient and quality teaching and learning resources. From this importance, schools at all levels of education have been advised to have quality and adequate instructional facilities to raise academic performance of their students.

The advice emanated from the fact that instructional facilities have a potent factor to qualitative education. The dictum is that “teaching is inseparable from learning but learning is separable from teaching.” This means that teachers do the teaching to make the students learn, but with quality and adequate instructional facilities, students can learn without the teachers. According to Akande (1985), learning can occur through one’s interaction with one’s environment. Environment here refers to instructional facilities that are available to facilitate students learning outcome.

Instructional materials such as the size of classroom, sitting position and arrangement, availability of tables, chairs, chalkboards, shelves on which instruments for practical, are important in the teaching transaction (Farrant, 1980 and Farombi, 1998). According to these scholars, availability of instructional materials can work best if other conditions are met such as the quality of classroom. I would add the quality of teachers to use these resources. While acknowledging the importance of instructional materials, there is little agreement on their roles on academic performance and this difference in understanding, is the focus of this study.

Studies have been conducted mainly focusing on pedagogical and curriculum trends. However, studies on the role of instructional materials in academic performance for a country like Buea municipality are highly needed due to the importance discussed above and the challenges facing the education system.

Academic performance according to the Cambridge University Reporter (2003) is frequently defined in terms of examination performance. Academic performance is normally measured by the examination results because this is one of the major goals of a school. Hoyle (1986) reiterated that schools are built in order to provide knowledge and skills to those who go through them and behind all this is the idea of enhancing good academic performance. In this study, academic performance was characterized by performance in classroom tests, in course work and performance in the final examinations.

In this study, I explored conceptions from teachers’ on understanding of the importance of instructional materials in improving teaching and learning in secondary school education in Buea municipality. In conducting this study, I have been interested in a reciprocal availability of instructional facilities, where the number of schools and enrollments are increasing while instructional materials are inadequate or in sorry state (see MoEVT, 2010). This reciprocal relationship is creating inefficiency gap between the governmental intentions stipulated in the Secondary Education Development Program (SEDP) and the realities existing in secondary schools.

A research carried out by Sumra and Rajani (2006) indicated that a number of learners finish secondary education without acquiring essential skills that are needed in life. This shows that increase in number of students has been prioritized over the number and quality of instructional materials (Hakielimu, 2007; Makombe et al, 2010). Some studies have specifically shown that teaching in secondary schools is poor as these schools lack necessary teaching facilities such as furniture for staff and students, books, science equipment, games and sport equipment (Benell and Mukyanuzi, 2005).

Moreover, teachers lack essential skills to make quality teaching and learning aids. According to a National Audit report, some schools are completely lacking material resources such as textbooks, charts, maps, audio-visual and electronic instructional materials such as radio, tape recorder, television and video tape recorder.

The performances of students on the intended learning outcomes provide the validation loop on the success of the interaction and instruction.

Omabe (2006), asserts that instructional materials are central in the teaching and learning of English language because they are used to compliment the efficiency of the teacher, and effectiveness in lesson delivery. Enukoha and Umoren (2004), affirmed that instructional materials facilitate learning of abstract concepts by helping to concretize idea and stimulate learners’ imagination.

Moreover, instructional materials help to increase active participation in the learning process while saving teachers energy, reducing the teacher centeredness in teaching. In the same light, Mathew (2012), states that the use of instructional materials make teaching effective as it enables learners to participate actively in classroom instruction. All these views suggest that the use of instructional materials can improve students’ performance.

Olumorin, et Al (2010), also observe that instructional materials help teachers to teach conveniently and the learners to learn easily without stress. They assert that instructional materials have direct contact with all the sense organs of the students. Kochhar (2012), supports this view by saying that instructional materials are very significant tools in the learning and teaching process of English language. He adds that there is need for teachers to find necessary and relevant instructional materials to complement classroom interaction and textbooks in order to broaden and arouse students’ interest in the subject.

Also, instructional materials are print and non-print items that are rested to impact knowledge to students in the educational process. It enhances the memory level of the students. At this time that education has spread wide and entirely, oral teaching cannot be the key to successful pedagogy; therefore, the teacher has to use instructional materials to make the teaching and learning process interesting, (Nickhulls 2003, Raw 2006). According to Abdullahi (2010), instructional materials are tools locally made or imported that help to facilitate the teaching and learning process. Obanga (2005), view them as material things that are used to make tremendous impacts on the learner’s ability to fully comprehend English language learners.

The use of instructional materials can enhance the learners’ achievement. Cronbach (2009), states the important elements of behaviour that provides the base for learning theory situation which consists of all the objects, prepares persons and symbols in the learning environment.

Experience in situation prepares a person to respond to similar situation in future. The use of instructional materials can appeal to the individual attention by creating interesting goals that will help the learner achieve direct effort. Teacher’s problem of motivation is essentially one of arranging situation with instructional materials in which the learner sees the goals he wants to attain.

 Statement Of The Problem

Most studies that look into the state of instructional resources in schools, rarely do attach poor performance with lack of, or inadequacy of these materials.

As the studies above indicate instructional materials are important in teaching and learning and are inadequate in many schools (Kerr, 2003). Although studies in Buea municipality (see for example those of Sumra and Rajani, 2006; Hakielimu, 2007; Makombe et al, 2010) have lamented on poor students’ academic performance, they did not link this situation with inadequate quality instructional resources. These studies are clear that there is a strong link between adequate and quality instructional materials and quality teaching and learning process (Blair, 1998) but have not shown this link with students’ academic performance.

Other studies conducted by researchers such as Earthman and Lemasters (1996) have shown that learners who are provided with safe, modern and environmentally controlled situation learn much better and their academic performance are high.

However, the need of this study  to draw a clear comparison between the quality of instructional materials in selected  secondary schools in Buea Municipality and academic outcomes. In order for the government to support educational reform that will boost student performance, they will need to understand the level of relationship between instructional materials and academic performance.

Objectives Of The Study

General Objective

This study sets to find out the influence of instructional materials on students academic performance in English language in some selected secondary schools in the Buea municipality.

Specific objectives

1. To find out the influence of charts on students’ academic performance in the English language in some selected secondary schools in the Buea municipality.
2. To find out the influence of dictionaries on students’ academic performance in some selected secondary schools in the Buea municipality.

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